PROPERTY FROM THE CLAUDE AND MARYANNE
TAYAG COLLECTION

ABOUT THE WORK

Lao Lianben’s minimalist yet expressive predisposition is shown in 1991’s Gestures. One of the most prominent abstract painters today and a Thirteen Artists Awardee of the CCP in 1976, Lianben is a true virtuoso of the spare gesture in which he can exude his ideas with a simple stroke of paint. Like many of his other paintings, he utilizes a monochromatic composition that evokes stillness and tranquility – an homage to an oriental psyche. Lianben captures only what is of the essence in simplistic yet elusive canvasses. A well-known master of non-representative art, he has been producing monochromatic artworks for four decades. Simplicity has been the trademark of Lianben’s artistry, “purifying his art by stripping it of any superfluity of form or color” (Art Philippines). Lianben has explained that his art pertains to silence wherein a solitary ambiance emanates from it. His East Asian heritage can be discerned through his usage of black or white shades which is an influence of Zen aesthetics. Lianben immerses himself with natural and free-flowing shapes that are rendered in an uncluttered canvas. Leovino Ma. Garcia once wrote that “like the empty bowl of a Buddhist monk, Lao Lianben’s paintings, in their bare simplicity, offer an endless feast for thought”.